from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Some mistakes are hard to avoid completely. Typos are usually forgivable, even when they result in some terrible misunderstandings. But job applicants are told time and time again that typos are horrendous errors, and anyone applying for a job should be especially careful about eliminating spelling mistakes and typing errors. However, focusing too much on simple errors could allow some much bigger mistakes to slide by. Here are just a few examples.

from the in-some-places,-apparently... dept

It always amuses me when people insist that no one would create content without getting paid for it, since that's clearly not true. Plenty of people produce all sorts of valuable content for a variety of other reasons -- and even if they don't get paid for it directly, down the road, it can lead to opportunities to get paid. A good example of that, obviously, is the open source community, where there are plenty of stories of active contributors leveraging their success in the community to find jobs. But can it apply to blog comments as well? Perhaps. Ian alerted us to the fact that the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) is looking to hire people on the PR side, and one of the things they're asking for (even before a resume) is a link to your Slashdot profile (or other similar "comment histories"). Who knew all those "first!" posts could be worth something...?

from the depends-on-who-you-talk-to dept

Just a few weeks ago, the NY Times had a blog post talking about how some recruiters were
telling World of Warcraft players to avoid mentioning their gaming on resumes, as many employers were telling
recruiters to avoid gamers, on the theory they "cannot give 100 percent because their
focus is elsewhere [and] their sleeping patterns are often not great..." Of course, in
different companies, you get very different views on that same subject -- and CIO magazine
is running a profile of Starbucks' new CIO, where they actually play up the fact that he was "one of the top guildmasters" in the online
game. In fact, those who have worked with him note that his experiences in WoW have given
him more leadership ability than the MBA he also happens to have. So, for the WoW gamers
out there who despaired after reading the NY Times article, perhaps just go looking for a
different type of company.